Willis, Porter and Spink included in England U18 squad for 2017 South Africa tour

Date: 12 Jul 2017

Wasps' Tom Willis, Will Porter and Sam Spink have been included in England Under 18s 26-man squad for their three-match tour of South Africa in August.

England face South Africa Schools in their opening fixture on Friday 11 August in Cape Town before a match against Wales four days later. The side then finish their campaign against France on Saturday 19 August in Stellenbosch.

England will be boosted by the experience of forwards Ted Hill, Sam Moore and Wasps' Tom Willis - all three featured in last year’s tour to South Africa. Hill and Harlequins fly-half Marcus Smith both also received England U20 caps in this year’s Six Nations.

Coached by John Fletcher, Russell Earnshaw, Mark Luffman and Peter Walton, England U18 have enjoyed an impressive season so far, most recently winning all of their games in April’s International Series in Wales.

England U18 head coach John Fletcher said: “The tour is a fantastic opportunity for these players to play in the southern hemisphere in a challenging environment. On the field, I want to see us improve in each game, we are in our off season and lots of the boys will not have had much rugby so it will take a little bit of time to get them back up to speed.

“We’ve chosen a strong, talented group and we will only focus on ourselves, the skills and principles that we think are important for this age group within our pathway. We’re really looking forward to spending time with the players; it’s important for us coaches to get to know them both on and off the field.”

The tour plays a pivotal role in their development through the national age grade programme with three players (Joe Cokanasiga, Ben Curry and Tom Curry) from last year’s group named in the England senior squad for the series against Argentina in June.

In addition, 11 of last year’s squad progressed to feature in the 2017 World Rugby U20 Championship in Georgia which saw England reach the final.